AIO Coolers

Help out a luddite here!

When I was properly into PC's it was normal air fans, and that was that. All this water cooling has moved things on a bit!

My case is a pretty simple one, nice and quiet though.


It currently has in a Corsair H80i Liquid Cooler, so single fan (on the back at the top)

Looks like that is a 120mm radiator:


Stupid question alert.... it came with a 2080ti GPU. I've got rid of that and it now has a 3090 inside. So more power/heat of course...would a 240mm radiator help much?


(Looks like that is all the case supports (at the top)

Any tangible benefit? The CPU is what is connected to the liquid cooler at the minute (i9-10940x) - so that's what would get the benefit of the extra cooling, I assume?

So I think, if I understand this right, no real benefit to swapping out the 120mm radiator with a 240mm?

The case is quite cramped as well tbh now...

3090 takes just about 3 slots, ASUS M.2 Hyper adaptor (for NVME's), 10Gbps NIC, wifi/bluetoth card.

Concern I have (which is making me look at these options) is the ASUS card is long and solid, doesn't fit on the bottom PCIE slot, so has to go directly below the 3090, so it doesn't give the bottom fan on that GPU much room to work its magic.



TLDR: Do I go for a bigger case, or radiator, or leave as it is?!
 


AIO just cools the CPU

They do lower the ambient temp of your case overall as the heats doesnt come out of the CPU cooler into it. But it wont make much diff to your GPU.

do you have intake fans on the front of the case and exhausts on the top ?

to be honest the case doesnt look like it has very good air flow so it will run prettyy toasty no matter what you do
 
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AIO just cools the CPU

They do lower the ambient temp of your case overall as the heats doesnt come out of the CPU cooler into it. But it wont make much diff to your GPU.

do you have intake fans on the front of the case and exhausts on the top ?

to be honest the case doesnt look like it has very good air flow so it will run prettyy toasty no matter what you do

Got'cha. Cheers.

The case is more about being "silent" which, in the grand scheme of things is good. Don't get me wrong, I don't really have issues, GPU maxes out about 65 degrees, doesn't go any hotter so that can't be bad.

There is 1 intake fan on the front, none on the top!

Inside the case there is:

1 fan/rad at the back for the CPU.
1 in take fan on the front.
Vents on the top of the case but no actual fans.

So definitely not ideal for air flow. Might look at a bigger case if things do start to get too hot.
 
a 10th gen i9, with a 3090 - and a £60 case...shame on you

;)

now that thats out of the way - i'd deffo replace with h80i with a 240 or even a 360mm aio - cos the 10940x can get toasty, especially if you stick an overclock on it (be interesting to see what your current cpu temps are and if you're running any kind of o/c)

3090 will be a hot beast as well but not a lot you can do about it.

Possible solution - top mount the aio, fit another fan front and back
 
a 10th gen i9, with a 3090 - and a £60 case...shame on you

;)

now that thats out of the way - i'd deffo replace with h80i with a 240 or even a 360mm aio - cos the 10940x can get toasty, especially if you stick an overclock on it (be interesting to see what your current cpu temps are and if you're running any kind of o/c)

3090 will be a hot beast as well but not a lot you can do about it.

Possible solution - top mount the aio, fit another fan front and back

LOL! I went lazy and bought pre-built.

I think I am gonna replace the case. Any suggestions? Current case looks like it can handle a 240, so if I replace the case I could get proper cooling in from the start.

GPU is sat at 42 degrees idle, it was 34 before I put the NVME adaptor in, so that's definitely impacting the bottom fan of the GPU.

No overclock on the CPU its around 41 degrees idle.

As soon as I start playing anything taxing, the AIO fan kicks out a LOT of heat!

They have definitely scrimped on the cooling, as the GPU included was a 2080ti which ran hotter than the 3090 IIRC!

Happy to replace the case and with something better.
 
cant go wrong with the lian li 011

Easy to build in with plenty of expandability and options.

Depends on the space you have available though.

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That's my disco unicorn.

If you want something smaller and quiet Be Quiet do some nice cases now. I would check out some of the gamers nexus case reviews on youtube or his website.


The lan cool II mesh is awesome for air flow and temps if that us your focus.
 
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another thumbs up for the lancool II mesh, i was also looking at the lancool 215 for my new build

however, both were out of stock when i was looking so i went with the phanteks p500A

(of course, both lancool cases were back in stock the day my case was delivered - typical)
 

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